Lentil Salad with Squash

I had a really good lentil salad at Thanksgiving (thanks Joel and Marie!) and I've started making my own recently. The concept is really good: lentils taste good but are too monotonous and earthy to eat in large amounts, so mix them up with something else and dress them heavily. The one I had at Thanksgiving was lentils with arugula and goat cheese. I used parsley--lots of it--to play the role of non-earthy thing, and I steamed a delicata squash and put it in too. This should be good as a salad for at least four people.

• 2/3 cup lentils, preferably the little green French kind
• 1 large delicata squash, seeds removed, and chopped into 1-inch pieces
• parsley
• 1 tbs. red wine vinegar
• 4 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tsp. good mustard
• salt, pepper

Cook the lentils in salted water (2 cups of water is probably about right) until they're soft, which usually takes 45 minutes for me. Steam the squash until it's ready, about 15 minutes. Mix up the mustard, vinegar, and oil in a jar or bowl, and combine everything with a bit of salt and pepper. Add the chopped parsley. Serve hot or at room temperature.